Textile print blanket



,atcnted Feb. 24, 1948 TEXTILEPRINT BLANKET l William C. Boss and Stephen B. Neilcy, Winchester, Mass., asslgnors to Dewey and Almy Chemical l(lompany, North Cambridge, Mau., a oorporation of Massachusetts Application October 24, 1944,' Serial No. 560,176 3 Claims. (Cl. 154-545) This invention relates to textile printing and is directed to the improvement of wash-blankets.

Among the objects of the invention are tominimize flushing, both at the selvage edge and in the body of the goods, to provide means to prevent color from working under the goods, to make cleaning of the blanket by washing more effective. and to make drying of the blanket more complete.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of our invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section through a portion of the blanket, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of an alternative constructionoi our invention.

In printing textiles by the wash-blanket process the color which is left on the roll beyond the selvage of the goods being printed and also whatever sulplus color is driven through the goods is blanket possesses a working face molded in this Alternatively, the channels may be molded in the working surface of the blanket so that they do not extend exactly parallel with the axis of the blanket, but a herringbone pattern. as illus' trated in Figure 3. 'is produced. The individual channels Iba of the blanket 12a start at the axis I4 of the blanket and have a slight angle of departure so that every channel at some time terminates in the margin `ci the blanket as illuscarried away on the blanket. In the washblanket process great care must be exercised to prevent edge flush, which comes about because the surplus color laid on the blanket is squeezed under the selvage of the goods.

We have discovered that by providing the surface o! aprinting blanket with a series of minute parallel longitudinal channels the color as it advances before the pressure wave tends -to travel along the channel and does not turn laterally to run under the goods, as in the past. As a speciiic example of a blanket on which a wide variety of patterns and of goods may be printed, we mold fifty channels IU--IO to each inch of width in the working surfacev il of our improved printing blanket I2. These channels are parallel and extend longitudinally' of the blanket. Both the channel I and the ridge I3 have triangular cross sections, the altitudes 'of which are ten thousandths of an inch. For reasons which we will later describe we prefer a triangular channel, but we iind that it'is also possible to make the Walls of the channels perpendicular', to i'orm them as concave or convex arcs, or as straight lines at any angle. TheV dimensions oi' the channel and the number of the channels may vary since `the exact requirements are set by the pattern, the composition of the color. and the weave of the goods; It is important to make each channel large enough so that it will provide a suillcient volume to carry away thel surplus color, and it is important to make each channel small enough and to provide a sufllcient number of channels to the linear inch so that an image of the individual .channel does not appear in the printing. If the channel pattern is too coarse. bridging will occur. When a printing trated at I5. With such conilguration. thecolor is diverted from the margin of the goods as it is forced along the channels Illa by the pressure wave. l

Other advantages follow. We nd that, for example, flushing in the body of the goods is greatly minimized. This maybe explained because the pressure applied to the blanket by the color roll is applied transversely across a multitude of channel walls. Thus, even under the roll pressure.. the channels maintain their dimensions' to a substantial degree. Incontrast, when a transverse pattern is molded in the surface, the line of pressure applied `by the color roll is parallel to the individual margin of the pattern.

That margin is crushed, and folds over. The

color reservoir which the'pattern was intended to produce collapses, and the color onthe blanket is displaced, causing ushing. We nd, also, that our improved blanket is more eilectively washed v free of color in the washing part of the apparatus.

We prefer the triangular coniiguration oi the channels because we iind that the blankets are more thoroughly washed by rotary brushes when V the channels have this shape, and we also ilnd that when the channels are triangular, the squeeze roll, which squeezes the wash water on the blanket more-eiectively dries .the blanket.

We claim: l.

1. The improved blanket for textile printing machines, the printing surface of which is composed of substantially continuous alternating ridges and grooves extending generally lengthwise of the blanket and adording. a barrier against transverse travel of the printing color beneath the goods being printed.

2. The improved blanket for textiley printing machines, the printing surface of which is composed oi' substantially continuous alternating ridges and grooves extending parallel with the axis of the blanket and aording a. barrier against transverse travel of the printing color beneath the goods being printed.

3. The improved blanket for textile printing machines, the printing surface of which is composed of substantially continuous alternating ridges and grooves extending generally length- 1 wise of the blanket and at an acute angle to the axis thereof and affording a barrier against transverse travel of the printing colorvbeneath the goods being printed.

l WILLIAMC. ROSS.

STEPHEN B. NEILEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'IIENTS 

